[the_sleaze9]

When I became a full time developer, I lost any sense of adventure or accomplishment with regard to video games.

VR still has some sense of wonder or competitiveness that I used to feel playing WoW as a kid.

Just slowly embracing my inner old man yelling at clouds I suppose, a lot of kids see eSports as a viable future career now.

[jwells89]

For WoW specifically, the appeal melted away as it increasingly pushed instanced competitive endgame (raids, M+, arenas) as the the central pillars of the game. What pulled me in back in 2005 was its world which was not only vast and beautiful, but shared with numerous other players, as well as the more tabletop adventure feel that casual play (and even entry level raiding) entailed back then. Things that are prioritized now like leaderboard chasing and increasingly convoluted boss encounters are not what I logged on for.